Michael Buckley's coverage of celebrity gossip on his YouTube show What the Buck is delivered at the pace of a machine gun with over-the-top flamboyance and side-splitting humor. Buckley began posting YouTube videos in 2006 and quickly propelled himself from YouTube subscriber to YouTube star. Today, he has over one million subscribers and in addition to 'What the Buck' he began the program 'Dear Buck' on his second channel where he offers advice to viewers on topics ranging from dating to eating disorders. Being openly homosexual and exuding a high level of confidence, all of Buckley's videos are peppered with messages of self-acceptance and positivity.
Suite101.com caught up with Buckley to discuss how he found success on YouTube, how he maintains a sunny outlook on life and where he hopes to take his career from here.
Suite101.com: Explain how the "What the Buck" show originated. Has your background in theatre aided in the process of creating your videos?
MB: So the What the Buck Show originated back in the summer of 2005. A female friend and I were doing a local show on Public Access and then the next summer my cousin started putting clips on YouTube and it really just kind of spiraled from there. Has my background in theatre helped? I think so, I believe it's given me confidence...It’s helped my enunciation...I was at a TV thing the other day and they were telling me, 'Do you have a theatre background? Your voice is so booming’ (laughs)...My theatre background definitely gave me confidence.
S101: How quickly did you propel yourself from YouTube subscriber to YouTube star? With the influx of viral videos in years following your initial internet fame, what advice can you give to other YouTubers hoping to become popular?
MB: That's a great question. I was just a normal YouTuber for probably four or so months and then by the fall of 2006 I was doing a little better...I would say within the year was kind of when [I began finding success] because I was featured on the front page of YouTube and a lot of other things; my account got suspended around the same time, so there was this great kind of intrigue and buzz [around me]...People are very interested in viral videos and things like that. That's hard though, it's hard to create a following on YouTube based on viral videos because it's hard to tell what's going to go viral. I always just tell people, 'Do videos that you love,’ and I love doing celebrity gossip and I love doing advice on Dear Buck....Focus on creating content you love and if you really do want to be a big YouTube star look around and see who's doing well and how they're doing well and kind of take cues from that and that can inspire you to become a more successful YouTuber.
S101: You have met several celebrities in your career and Taylor Momsen was actually a fan of yours after you poked fun at her in a video. Have you suffered any backlash from celebrities due to your videos?
MB: I haven't suffered any backlash, no. If I ever get emails it's generally from reality show people...I always just write back, 'You're lucky I know your name, b**ch,' (laughs)...If a real celebrity like Beyonce or Oprah [were watching my show] they wouldn't care...Now that I am pretty well-known, most of them are actually thrilled when I mention them...I have only ever heard from one celebrity publicist who did not like one of my videos and asked me to change it....and they were really nice about it but I said, 'I don't work for your client...no.' It was weird that in five or six years that I've only gotten one of those emails. [I told the publicist], 'People know I'm being funny and I'm kidding...your client needs to not be worried about such things.'
S101: The ‘What the Buck’ videos focus on the entertainment world through a comedic filter. Other entertainment media that is not comedy-based is sometimes scrutinized for the messages displayed about topics like weight-loss, promiscuity (i.e. sex tapes), etc. What would your advice be to your young viewers who are exposed to this type of media?
MB: It's interesting because my show is comedy-based and I'm always trying to just make fun of things and be silly, but at the end of the day I do try to give a little bit of a message in terms of acting appropriately and valuing yourself... From day one I've just always been like, 'I make fun of everyone, I make fun of myself.' My intent is to amuse, not to ruin anybody's life and most of my audience knows now just to laugh and not to be offended.
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